Commercial UAV Expo Americas 2020 is going virtual, according to event organizer Diversified Communications. “Due to ongoing health and safety concerns stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, members of the commercial drone community we serve have made it clear that it would be impossible to hold the live event as originally planned. In the interests of ensuring our community still has an opportunity learn from and connect with each other, we have reimagined Commercial UAV Expo Americas as a fully virtual event taking place September 15-17, 2020,” said Lisa Murray, Group Director at Diversified Communications, organizer of Commercial UAV Expo Americas. These are the same dates the live event had been scheduled for in Las Vegas.

Details will be forthcoming, but the content will include keynotes, panel discussions, and presentations with interactive Q&A and chat features; an AI-powered networking component; virtual exhibits, and demonstrations by UAS solutions providers. “We have stayed in close contact with our customers over the last few months. A huge thank you to all of them. I cannot say enough about their support and collaboration with our team during this time. What is clear is that they want and need the business networking and education normally provided by our event, but travel bans and other restrictions were going to prevent them from attending. We decided to put a stake in the ground and make immediate plans to ensure the broadest participation possible by making the event virtual now. Where a virtual event may not have appealed to many just a few months ago, the world has changed. People are yearning for connections and education. We are excited to offer the key benefits they expect from us: critical, timely education delivered by industry leaders, opportunities to network and engage with peers, and the ability to learn about the newest technology in the space,” said Ms. Murray. She added that the content will naturally address how the industry has responded to the pandemic, as well as the associated opportunities and challenges.

FAA Administrator Stephen M. Dickson, an aviation professional with nearly 40 years of experience, will Keynote the virtual event. Dickson leads an agency responsible for the safety and efficiency of the largest aerospace system in the world. “We are thrilled that Administrator Dickson will be addressing the audience at such a critical time for the drone space,” said Ms. Murray.

Additional information about the event will be announced, but commercial drone solutions providers will have the opportunity to host virtual exhibits, conduct one-on-one meetings, provide product information, share videos and more—all virtually. “We are investing in a robust virtual platform that will deliver high value to companies already signed on for the in-person event. We expect going virtual will naturally attract new companies, further enhancing the array of products and services on offer and attracting new buyers who may not have attended a live event but are more than ready to attend virtually.” said Ms. Murray.

“So much has happened in the drone space since the last edition of Commercial UAV Expo Americas,” said Ms. Murray. “People need an update on the latest developments and the impact on their business. While restrictions on travel are in place, restrictions on business are not. We are dedicated to bringing major stakeholders together to continue to move the industry forward during a particularly important time for drone industry expansion.”

Return to a Live Event in 2021

In 2021, Commercial UAV Expo Americas will take place September 7-9, 2021 at the Mirage in Las Vegas,” said Ms. Murray. “We look forward to the opportunity to connect in person with our customers. In the meantime, we will be their virtual connection to the drone industry.”

About Commercial UAV Expo Americas

Commercial UAV Expo Americas, presented by Commercial UAV News, is the leading international trade show and conference in North America for the commercial drone market. Its sixth edition, September 15-17, 2020 will take place virtually. For more information, visit http://www.expouav.com/.

KinderLab Robotics today announced the availability of resources and curriculum to support blended and distance learning using KIBO, the hands-on, screen-free STEAM robotics kit. Even during school closures in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, schools can use KIBO to support age-appropriate STEAM learning and family engagement.

KinderLab’s new curriculum bundle enables teachers to incorporate KIBO into a distance- or blended-learning model for creative STEAM education both at home and at school. The bundle is supported by professional development that explains how to teach remotely with KIBO, as well as how to support parents using KIBO at home.

Jason Innes, the manager of training and curriculum development at KinderLab Robotics, Inc., said, “As we respond to changes to the structure of school, we need to hold onto what we know works in early childhood education. Hands-on manipulatives, playful learning, and student collaboration all remain vitally important. By providing students with access to KIBO during school closures and remote learning, schools can teach in a developmentally appropriate way while promoting connection between students, parents, peers, and schools. KIBO, along with curriculum and professional development from KinderLab, is a powerful foundation for early childhood remote learning.”

KinderLab has created a range of resources to help schools and districts incorporate the benefits of hands-on, screen-free robotics and respond to the uncertainty of how school will look in the fall. These include:

A new whitepaper called Connecting with KIBO, which outlines the benefits of providing access to robotics for young children and models for how to teach screen-free computer science and coding despite school closures. The whitepaper includes sample lessons and suggestions for using KIBO regardless of the setting: remote learning by videoconference, blended learning in reduced-occupancy classrooms, and parent-facilitated learning at home.

A webinar on June 3rd called How Can I Use KIBO in Blended or Distance Learning? Attendees will hear from two leading STEM educators from Boston Public Schools and The Agnes Irwin School on their practical suggestions and concrete advice for incorporating KIBO into a distance- or blended-learning model.

For schools considering implementation of a home-based KIBO rotation program, KinderLab has created a convenient package of curriculum and professional development. The KIBO Blended Learning Curriculum Bundle, priced at $499, supports five KIBOs when rotating between students. This collection of teaching materials supports teacher-led, child-directed, and parent-supported playful learning. One hour of live video training is included, giving teachers the preparation they need to implement this model.

In early childhood, engagement with physical materials remains essential. With the school closures caused by COVID-19, teachers and parents around the country have seen that long videoconferences or purely screen-based lessons are not developmentally appropriate for young children. KIBO is a robot kit specifically designed for early childhood, so children program their robots with “tangible code” made of wooden blocks. Because KIBO is entirely screen-free, they engage in learning STEAM concepts through physical play and creative self-expression.

A distance learning program with KIBO can also be based on recorded lessons and demonstrations by the teacher, with children engaging in movement activities and unplugged coding games. KIBO’s standards-aligned curriculum can be adapted to work while students are at home using video lessons prerecorded by teachers, interactive videoconferences with teachers and peers, and parent-supervised home projects. Some lessons can be done without the physical robot, but the richest learning comes from hands-on engagement with KIBO, using robot kits made available for use at home. Supported by their parents and caregivers, children can play, imagine, and create, then share their creations with their peers to maintain engagement and connection.

“Many students lack reliable access to internet or computing resources at home,” Innes concluded. “Providing these families with access to KIBO is an important move toward equity in learning across our community. We think of KIBO as ‘1:1 for Pre-K–2,’ putting age-appropriate learning technology into students’ hands to be used with teacher support and parent engagement. By encouraging parents to take on the role of co-learner, we help address parents’ anxiety as well as promote deeper bonds—between parents and students, and between parents and schools.”

About KIBO – The Playful STEAM Robot

KIBO is a hands-on, playful robot kit that allows young children aged 4–7 to build, program, decorate, and bring their own robot to life without requiring a smartphone, tablet, or computer. It is an open platform on which students can envision and create their own robot. With art and engineering, students transform KIBO into imagined animals, vehicles, storybook characters, and more. Students plan a coding sequence using wooden programming blocks, then scan their sequence with the built-in barcode scanner, press its button—and the robot comes alive.When children build, code, and decorate their own robot, they perceive it as play, but they are learning invaluable STEAM skills. Not only are these hands-on experiences inherently rewarding, but they help children understand the technology in their world and can even improve their future job prospects.

About KinderLab Robotics

KinderLab Robotics is the creator of the award-winning KIBO, a playful educational STEAM robot kit based on 20 years of child development research with thousands of children, teachers, and parents. Developed specifically for teachers by Dr. Marina Umaschi Bers at Tufts University, KIBO is currently used in 60+ countries and has proven efficacy in helping kids learn STEAM—and getting them excited about it! KinderLab offers a complete suite of teaching materials that help integrate STEAM elements into a wide range of curricula, including art, cultural studies, and reading literacy.

Conveyco Technologies a leading North American systems integrator, is providing a free 40-minute webinar demonstrating the latest robotic automated storage and retrieval system providing flexible labor and throughput rates, high density storage, and a rapid deployment.

The system’s flexibility allows the system to grow and contract based on actual and projected volume. In fact, additional Skypod autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) can be leased to meet peak periods. Designed for reliability, every Skypod robot is centrally monitored 24/7/365 to assure peak performance and uptime.

The webinar details how the system is comprised of rack, totes, software, and the 3-axis Skypod AMR (autonomous mobile Robot). The Skypod robots navigate to the correct bin and then travels vertically up to 36’ to extract the tote and deliver it to the correct workstation.

“This is the most revolutionary material handling automated storage and retrieval system to be developed in decades,” said Ed Romaine former chairman of MHI’s automated storage and retrieval product section group. He continued, “The flexibility, density, reliability and overall simplicity of this hybrid AMR system makes this a no-brainer for ecommerce, omnichannel, micro-fulfillment centers, retail and D2C manufacturers.”

By watching the webinar, you will learn how this system provides a fast return on investment, performs at benchmark speeds and mitigates order fulfillment performance issues especially during peak activity times.

Here at STEMBoT Inc (SBI), we design super fun educational robots and tools that make learning things like math and computer programming exciting! STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) is the future and our product, the STEMBoT 2, is the best tool to stimulate students to want to learn at school and at home. The STEMBoT 2 Kickstarter launched on April 8th, has raised over $10,000 and has already reached its fundraising goal!

After nearly a decade of success at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and several other high-level institutions, we have decided to redesign and share our educational robot, the STEMBoT, with the ever-growing STEM education market. We believe that all students should have ample opportunity to realize their potential. STEMBoTs have engaged thousands of students in computer programming, geometry, learning language prepositions, civil rights movements, and so much more. “We already have four high school students that want to enter into engineering because of their experience with the STEMBoTs. I’ve seen such a huge difference in my kids. Both at school and in their personal lives.” - Susan De Roy, Robotics Club @ Willa Cather Elementary

STEMBoTs are a powerful engagement tool for students, and are very easy for teachers to use. With our long term STEM education partners and your support, SBI is excited to get the STEMBoT into every school in the United States by 2030.

The STEMBoT 2 is a highly robust product that is suitable for Kindergarten- to College-level users. “The system is powered by an ARM Cortex-M4 microcontroller pre-programmed with MicroPython, a Python 3 interpreter developed for embedded systems.” – Logan McIntyre, Lead Engineer of STEMBoT Inc. The STEMBoT that students use to add fractions in elementary school is the same STEMBoT that students also use to master python programming in high school and college. We think that’s pretty cool.

Parents & educators worldwide understand the importance of equipping the next generation with vital skills of the future – robotics, coding & AI. However there is a lack of resources which make learning about artificial intelligence accessible, hands on & fun! So TinkerGen has developed a kit which provides a learning experience for kids and hobbyists.

Make A Robot Kit, aka MARK, is an artificial intelligence robot which allows learners to achieve an exciting range of applications, from interacting with pet animals to experimenting with how autonomous vehicles work.

Supported with an abundant range of course materials, beginners start with a hands on assembly of their own robot, moving onto graphically coding their MARK to implement a self-driving car through street sign recognition & collision avoidance. As stated by MARK developer & TinkerGen course designer Dmitry Maslov, a main feature of MARK is, “making machine learning concepts and workflow more transparent, easier to understand and use for teachers and students.”

An electromagnetic attachment allows sorting application which teaches kids the concept of automated logistics. While 5 pretrained model categories are included so many applications can be easily and quickly implemented, students will also be able to train their own image recognition models.

The pretrained model categories include:

road signs

domestic animals

zoo animals

common objects

Numbers

With slingshot and grabber attachments, and the ability to recognise almost any object, a whole new world of play is discovered. The whole family can get involved, multiple MARKS can battle in a sumo style fight, breeding productive competition, On the other hand, you could use MARK to feed, amuse and tease your pet with treats.

Features to Highlight:

Machine Vision Capability

Object & Image recognition

Self driving car application

Interactive with humans, pets, and the environment

Graphical programming support

Develops hands on robotics skills

Extendible & Customisable

Attachment points for accessories

Connection ports for extra input/output modules

About TinkerGen:

TinkerGen is a STEM Education company which grew from an open source hardware manufacturer in Shenzhen – Seeed Studio, so we know our tech, but we’re here to serve the education community. We make the process for educators convenient, so kids can quickly get to the fun mind expanding bits of tinkering and creating! We believe that helping kids to develop STEM skills is really beneficial for their future, and also a proven way to bridge the privilege gap that unfortunately exists in our society today.

CoderZ has launched CoderZ Adventure, a new coding and robotics course for elementary school students in grades two through five. The course contains activities and assignments, including more than 50 gamified “missions” with easy-to-follow walkthroughs and tips. It is designed to empower even teachers who are coding novices so that they can include a more comprehensive STEM foundation in their students’ early knowledge base.

CoderZ Adventure introduces students to the world of STEM and robotics through an exciting journey of adventures in the CoderZ world. Students will learn how to program their virtual robot to navigate in CoderZ Frozen Island, the Lost City, Candy Town and other stimulating locations while practicing basic math, geometry and more. Students work their way through seven adventures covering multiple topics:

1. Adventure Peak introduces basic navigation such as driving and turning using Drive and Turn blocks.2. Frozen Island practices basic arithmetic practice: addition, subtraction and division.3. The Lost City covers how to use the program’s Explore Mode feature to measure distances, the Wait block and Repeat Loops4. Crystal Crater covers basic geometry exercises: angles and parallel lines. Students also practice Repeat Loops.5. Candy Town delves into more geometry: the concept of the radius of a circle. Students also continue practicing Repeat Loops.6. Sketch It is a practice exercise during which students draw on a virtual sketchpad using all the skills learned previously.7. The Milky Way uses the Explore Mode feature to measure angles and radii. Students plan the optimal route to complete a mission as quickly and efficiently as possible, given a time limit.

Each session contains a series of related missions that enable students to learn to code with the virtual robot, apply their math skills and practice problem solving.

CoderZ Adventure is already proving popular with teachers and their students. One of the program’s fans is Christy Gonzales who teaches a robotics class at Pinecrest Glades Academy in Florida. “They’re loving the game!” she said. She challenges each student to try to find the solution first. “I incentivize them to resolve the challenge as efficiently as possible,” she explained. “Kids LOVE a race.”

“It’s great to see the CoderZ Team bookend the well-known middle school Cyber Robotics 101 and 102 packages expanding to a complete pedagogical solution with CoderZ Adventure as an incredible elementary school solution and text-based Python Gym for secondary school students,” said Trevor Pope, CoderZ Success Manager at CoderZ. “Programming virtual robots with CoderZ has an educational, engaging, competitive, fun and positive impact for all students in grades 2-12.”

About CoderZCoderZ is an innovative and engaging online learning environment. Developed for students in grades 2 and above, the gamified STEM solution allows student to work at their own pace, easily programming real and virtual robots from anywhere in the world. The platform enables students to acquire computational thinking, problem solving and creativity skills, together with coding and STEM learning, all via a flexible and scalable virtual solution. For more information go to http://www.gocoderz.com.

Festo has entered into a strategic partnership with MassRobotics, based in Boston, to further global market growth and innovation initiatives dedicated to the development of the next generation of robotics.

MassRobotics, the independent, nonprofit group serving as an innovation hub for robotics and smart connected devices, works to foster a collaborative space in which to inspire the next generation of robotics and automation innovators and builders. The organization’s unique “escalator” model allows startups to establish, grow, offer meaningful employment, and provide ongoing value for MassRobotics’ partner organizations.

MassRobotics also creates a supportive learning environment to engage youth and next generation engineers and entrepreneurs by offering Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) workshops, competitions, and technical internships. MassRobotics supports the Ventilator Project, founded by entrepreneurs located at MassRobotics. The Ventilator Project aims to solve the ventilator shortage crisis with an innovative low-cost ventilator designed by members; the team is currently seeking FDA approval for the device.

“We are pleased to announce our partnership with MassRobotics,” said Alfons Riek, Vice President Technology and Innovation, Festo. “Combining Festo’s in-depth know-how in manufacturing applications and automation technology with the MassRobotics community will enable Festo to engage with robotics and automation startups. We will collaborate with entrepreneurs and academia alike in bringing innovative new automation and robotic concepts and solutions to market.”

“The Boston area with its high density of robotic expertise is very interesting for us, and we expect many interesting opportunities for our robot development throughout the partnership with MassRobotics,” said Christian Tarragona, Vice President Festo Robotics.

Carlos Miranda, CEO, Festo North America, added, “Festo and other MassRobotics members will explore the evolution of automated manufacturing solutions to autonomous ones. Through technology challenge engagements, members will co-develop and commercialize advanced products and systems.”

Festo is one of the world’s leading automation companies, and, in addition to technology, the company offers automation learning systems through its Didactic Division. It promotes public and private alliances that implement apprenticeship programs. Festo invests heavily in research and development. The Bionic Learning Network, for example, creates novel solutions based on designs found in nature. The network emphasizes Festo partnerships with academia and technology businesses.

“MassRobotics and Festo share a vision of developing the future of robotic solutions dedicated to the emerging needs of the manufacturing sector,” said Fady Saad, Cofounder and Vice President of Strategic Partnerships, MassRobotics. “Having an automation company with the expertise, resources, and leading-edge development capabilities of Festo will further the mission of MassRobotics and create excitement about our collaborative efforts.”

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About Festo Festo is a leading manufacturer of pneumatic and electromechanical systems, components, and controls for process and industrial automation. For more than 40 years, Festo Corporation has continuously elevated the state of manufacturing with innovations and optimized motion control solutions that deliver higher performing, more profitable automated manufacturing and processing equipment. Connect with Festo: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube

About MassRoboticsMassRobotics is the collective work of a group of Boston-area engineers, rocket scientists and entrepreneurs. With a shared vision to create an innovation hub and startup cluster focused on the needs of the robotics community, MassRobotics was born. MassRobotics’ mission is to help create and scale the next generation of successful robotics and connected device companies by providing entrepreneurs and innovative robotics/automation startups with the workspace and resources they need to develop, prototype, test and commercialize their products and solutions. http://www.massrobotics.org

NEW YORK, SANTA CLARA, Calif., and MANILA, The Philippines; April 22, 2020 – Accenture (NYSE: ACN), Intel and the Philippines-based Sulubaaï Environmental Foundation have developed a new solution powered by artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor, characterize and analyze coral reef resiliency. The solution — the work product of Project: CORaiL, an initiative the three organizations created in 2019 — has been deployed in a reef in the Philippines since last year.

Coral reefs are some of the world’s most diverse ecosystems, with more than eight hundred species of corals building and providing habitats and shelter for approximately 25% of global marine life. The reefs also benefit humans — protecting coastlines from tropical storms, providing food and income for 1 billion people, and generating US$9.6 billion in tourism and recreation annually. But reefs are being endangered and rapidly degraded by overfishing, bottom trawling, warming temperatures and unsustainable coastal development.

“Project: CORaiL is an incredible example of how AI and edge computing can be used to help researchers monitor and restore the coral reef. We are very proud to partner with Accenture and the Sulubaaï Environmental Foundation on this important effort to protect our planet,” said Rose Schooler, corporate vice president in Intel’s sales and marketing group.

A critical element of Project: CORaiL was to identify the number and variety of fish around a reef, which serve as an important indicator of overall reef health. Traditional coral reef monitoring efforts involve human divers manually capturing video footage and photos of the reef. In addition to being dangerous and time-intensive, this approach can disrupt marine life, as divers might inadvertently frighten fish into hiding.

Engineers from Accenture, Intel and Sulubaaï implemented an artificial, concrete reef — called a Sulu-Reef Prosthesis (SRP) — to provide support for unstable coral fragments underwater. The SRP was designed by Sulubaaï and placed in the reef surrounding the Pangatalan Island in the Philippines. Fragments of living coral were planted on it and will grow and expand, providing a hybrid habitat for fish and marine life.

The engineers then strategically placed intelligent underwater video cameras, equipped with the Accenture Applied Intelligence Video Analytics Services Platform (VASP), to detect and photograph fish as they pass by. VASP uses AI, powered by Intel Xeon, Intel FPGA Programmable Acceleration Cards and Intel Movidius VPU, to count and classify the marine life. The data is then sent to a surface dashboard, providing analytics and trends to researchers on the ground in real-time, enabling them to make data-driven decisions that will help the reef progress.

“The value of your data depends on how quickly you can glean insights to make decisions from it,” said Athina Kanioura, Accenture’s chief analytics officer and Accenture Applied Intelligence lead. “With the ability to do real-time analysis on streaming video, VASP enables us to tap into a rich data source — in effect doing ‘hands on’ monitoring without disrupting the underwater environment.”

Since being deployed in May 2019, the solution has collected roughly 40,000 images, which researchers have used to gauge reef health in real-time.

“Artificial intelligence provides unprecedented opportunities to solve some of society’s most vexing problems,” said Jason Mitchell, a managing director in Accenture’s Communications, Media & Technology practice and the company’s client lead for Intel. “Our ecosystem of corporate and social partners for this ‘AI for social good’ project proves that strength in numbers can make a positive environmental impact.”

Engineers from Accenture and Intel are already at work on the next-gen Project: CORaiL prototype, which will include an optimized convolutional neural network and a backup power supply. They are also looking into infra-red cameras which will enable videos at night to create a complete picture of the coral ecosystem. Additional uses could include studying the migration rate of tropical fish to colder countries and monitoring intrusion in protected or restricted underwater areas.

About AccentureAccenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services in strategy and consulting, interactive, technology and operations, with digital capabilities across all of these services. We combine unmatched experience and specialized capabilities across more than 40 industries — powered by the world’s largest network of Advanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centers. With 509,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture brings continuous innovation to help clients improve their performance and create lasting value across their enterprises. Visit us at www.accenture.com.

About IntelIntel (Nasdaq: INTC) is an industry leader, creating world-changing technology that enables global progress and enriches lives. Inspired by Moore’s Law, we continuously work to advance the design and manufacturing of semiconductors to help address our customers’ greatest challenges. By embedding intelligence in the cloud, network, edge and every kind of computing device, we unleash the potential of data to transform business and society for the better. To learn more about Intel’s innovations, go to newsroom.intel.com and intel.com.

About Sulubaaï Environmental FoundationCreated in 2012, Sulubaaï Environmental Foundation (SEF) is a Philippine-based non-profit organization dedicated to conserve, protect, and restore the natural resources of Palawan through environmentally sustainable practices and active ecosystems restoration. Its action is mainly focused on the island of Pangatalan and its surroundings in Shark Bay. To learn more, visit https://sulubaai-foundation.com/.